Coating, Prep Projects on Deck at NSRP

From blasting protocols and best practices, to lasers and mechanical arms, leading experts are pursuing a range of projects to make ship coatings and surface preparation projects easier, cheaper and more effective.

More than a dozen such projects are currently being overseen by the National Shipbuilding Research Program's Surface Preparation & Coatings Panel. NSRP is a collaboration of U.S. shipyards working to reduce the cost of acquiring, operating and maintaining Navy ships.

A $96,000 examination of "spot and sweep blasting" is one of more than a dozen projects now being overseen by NSRP's Surface Preparation & Coatings Panel.

Last month at SSPC 2013, a packed technical session received an upate on the million-dollar slate of projects now underway.

Since 1973, the panel, headed by Steve Cogswell of BAE Systems says it has sponsored more than 100 projects investigating technologies and processes to reduce cost and maintain quality of surface preparation and coatings in the shipbuilding industry.

Surface Preparation with Closed Loop Laser Ablation ($150,000)is studying this technology to gain NAVSEA approval for its use in surface preparation.

Compatibility of 'Single Coat' Tank Coating with Retained Pre-Construction Primer ($99,000) is looking at the performance of single-coat tank systems over pre-construction primer.

Retaining pre-construction primers could save the Navy $7 million a year, officials have said. Research on the method is continuing.

Tank Boundary and Penetration Testing ($99,000)looks at best practices in this area.

Future State for Navy Ship Maintenance Painting ($100,000) expands on a process map for the current state of the preservation process.

Evaluation of 'Spot and Sweep' Blasting as a Cost Effective Method of Underwater and Outer Hull Surface Preparation ($96,000) examines a robotic process that laces intact anti-corrosive on the hull during repainting.

Study to Determine an Alternative Coatings System Environment Recorder ($92,000) is seeking a reliable Data Logger to support certain specifications.

Study to Determine the Level of Salt Mitigation as related to the Accuracy of the Measurement and Cost Benefits ($79,000) looks at current Navy requirements for salt mitigation before applying protective coatings.

The Cost of U.S. Navy Coatings QA/QC ($81,000) takes a holistic look at quality assurance and quality control in surface prep programs.

Assessing the Need for 50% Relative Humidity during Tank Painting ($48,000) is examining the basis of this requirement.